TLS was introduced as a free download together with the Dawn of War II 1.8 update on October 14, 2009. There were originally three heroes to choose from, and two more were introduced in the huge 2.1 update made in March 10, 2010 just before the release of the Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising add-on expansion.

The Dawn of War II: Retribution stand-alone expansion released on March 1, 2011 upgraded TLS with a new map and two more heroes to play. The old version of TLS in Dawn of War II and Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising remains as it was, and will probably not gain new content in the future.

A stand-alone version of TLS, called The Last Standalone, was released on Steam on April 20, 2011 for $9.99 in the US, £6.49 in the UK and €6.99 in Europe. It allows playing TLS only with no regular multiplayer or campaign content, with an option of upgrading to the full version of Dawn of War II: Retribution for a discount price.

Two Sorcerers and a Captain have just killed six Hormagaunts for 288 points each

In The Last Stand, the three players each choose a hero – an über-character even more powerful than the campaign heroes – and will only control this one unit during the game. The heroes will act as a team and must defend against 20 increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Like in the campaign, heroes are incapacitated instead of killed, and the game only ends when all three heroes are simultaneously incapacitated. The heroes will gain experience, levels, and wargear items as they progress.

The game mechanics in The Last Stand are the same as in campaign or normal multiplayer modes, and the units will employ many familiar weapons and abilities. The marked difference is the exaggerated strength of the player units compared to swarms of cannon-fodder enemies. Each hero can kill dozens or even hundreds of enemies during a game.

There are currently seven selectable The Last Stand heroes, each with their strengths and weaknessess, although wargear options allow for some variance in the roles they can be used in. The original heroes in 1.8 were:

This picture shows 3.5x for time, 7x for survival and 3x for control; 73x in total

Score is awarded to the team for killing enemies. All players work for the same score pool and receive the same amount of points at the end of the game. Score does not advance the heroes' abilites in any way; it is completely separate from experience points.